Elastomer bearings include an inner member, and outer member and a compliant or flexible member, such as a bonded elastomer. Preferably, the elastomer is bonded to each of the inner and outer members. Bearings can take the form of spherical thrust bearings, sandwich bearings, rod end bearings, spherical joints, conical bearings, tubeform bearings, each of which is designed to carry load and/or torque and/or accommodate motions. Each are well known in the art. Within the area of spherical bearings and joints, a spherical surface having an outer spherical profile and radius is formed on the inner member. A somewhat larger radius and profiled surface is formed on the outer member. This difference between these radii defines the elastomer layer thickness.
In such bearings, a wrap around angle .phi.w is formed by the outer member. The wrap around angle .phi.w is determined by the bearing requirements, i.e., the needed load area for carrying axial and/or radial loads, or by stiffness criteria. In general, if the wrap around angle .phi.w requirement is small enough, there can be interference between the outer member and inner member such that installation of the outer member over the inner member can be difficult. In such cases, specialized assembly methods are required.
Within the prior art, it is know to use split outer members such as shown in FIG. 1, one having a recessed portion 10, the other including a complimentary recess angle 12, and a brass ring 14 which is pressed into the recessed portion 10 to retain the first half 16 from movement relative to the second half 18. After assembly, the elastomer 19 is bonded to the inner member 11 and outer member 13. Notably, over time, such joint assemblies have the tendency of working loose, further, when small thicknesses are involved, venting becomes a problem.
Therefore, a need exists for an elastomer bearing and assembly method therefor which allows small wrap around angles and ruggedness for long duration use and which may provide venting is cases where small thicknesses are used.